Press Reviews

“In messages between trees II the spiritual sound language comes to the fore. Folkloristic joy at the highest technical level is conveyed by the duo [Nils Mönkemeyer and Dorothee Oberlinger]. Fireworks.”

Kölnische Rundschau, April 2023

“After the intermission came the fascinating and successful premiere of a piece by the Greek composer Konstantia Gourzi, consisting of seven miniatures in which the composer played with melodic, harmonic, tonal and rhythmic micro-motifs in an uncommonly dense manner.”

Cellesche Zeitung, August 2022, Reinald Hanke

“Manifold musical images in the single pieces conjure up a quasi dialogue between nature and man […] All in all a production that yields calm and beautiful sounding melancholy through its floating melodies and shimmering glissandi also thanks to its interpreters.”

Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, March 2022, Yvonne Petitpierre

“Inspired by the natural world, these works [CD Whispers] were written especially for soloists Mönkemeyer and Youn. It’s a luminous and atmospheric project, full of long, sonorous lines and warm tones, and recorded in revereant surroundings. Guaranteed to take the listener to calm and serene places.”

BBC Magazine, April 2022

“[…] Impressive CD [Whispers] with solo and duo works for viola and piano, partly also with percussion. Focused, evocative tributes to Nature with fabulous performers.”

concerti, April 2022

“And that in melodies of the sea, despite the most economical means, each piece has its own character: truly fine art. Either you get very fuzzy and excited, or you are filled with a deep but lively peace. I am touched by the refinement of nuances in this music.”

Albrecht Selge, hundert11.net, March 2022

“Two trios enrich the recording as chamber music contributions: The title of Konstantia Gourzi’s ‘Néome’ for clarinet, percussion and piano, derived from Greek, means something like ‘I’ll be back’, thus approaching the theme as a promise. The composer creates incredibly dense, mysteriously hovering aura, focusing on the aspect of expectation through two-dimensional design. [Konstantia Gourzi: CD ‘Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt’]”

neue musikzeitung, April 2021

“Especially the string quartet “Israel” from 2004 impresses with the cleverly applied techniques, the harmonic content and the way the idiom and the four instruments combine music from different cultures. [Konstantia Gourzi: Music for Piano and String Quartet]”

Musicalifeiten.nl, November 2020

“Finally ‘Lullabies for three flowers’ by Konstantia Gourzi (*1962). The first one is of touching beauty, the second one seems more modern in sound with light rubato passages and the last one also inspires with its touching beauty.”

svensopernparadies.wordpress.com, 14 November 2020

“In contrast, the “Lullabies for three flowers” by the Greek composer Konstantia Gourzi come across as fragile, enchanting and folk-music-like. Compared to the other contributions, the Bach “Aria” perhaps dissolves most strongly in Gourzi’s sound poems, to the point of unrecognizability.”

RONDO, 5 / 2020

“The Greek composer Konstantia Gourzi wants to sensitize with the “Lullabies for three flowers” for respect and compassion towards creation. Not to destroy nature, but to admire it, to treat it with care and to perceive how important and necessary it is for us, even with its beauty, is an extra-musical statement that fits perfectly as the crowning conclusion of the project.”

onlinemerker.com, 14 October 2020

“Gourzi writes tremendously intense music. (…) It is a very independent music with finely sounded out areas and sharply jagged events, which stand like sound stelae, like marks of memory in a meditative soundscape. Nothing for the sideline – but a music that grows with close listening.”

Wiener Zeitung, 25 February 2019

“Konstantia Gourzi’s commissioned composition ‘Evening at The Window’ (compensated) with surprising sound aspects of the viola, a ballad from ‘six views’ for solo viola. (…) Only with Diyang Mei the whole piece became equally visible in its fierce but also deeply gentle facets.”

Süddeutsche Zeitung, 17 September 2018

“The decisive factor in this project is probably the utopia that different religious and thus also musical traditions are suitable for building bridges between people. Let us hope so. In the Germanic National Museum, at any rate, this utopia found a beautiful sound.”

Nürnberger Zeitung, 14 June 2018

“The relationship between the instruments is complex, and therefore the conductor Konstantia Gourzi and with her the members of the Meitar ensemble perform a colorful, rich performance. (…) The performance is brilliant, the recording [Amos Elkana: Tripp] is excellent, and the whole is a display of contemporary music, intriguing, deep and ignites the listener’s emotion and imagination.”

Haaretz, 11 April 2018

“The fact that Ensemble Oktopus, the orchestra of the Munich Academy of Contemporary Music, has such a consolidated and organic sound is the great achievement of artistic director Konstantia Gourzi.”

Süddeutsche Zeitung, 18 January 2018

“Only hesitantly did the audience break free from its enchantment after the last bars, and there was great applause for the musicians and also for Konstantia Gourzi.”

Augsburger Allgemeine, 22 October 2016

“Konstantia Gourzi, who gave a concert with the Lucerne Festival Academy (LFA): the performance of the native Greek, who lives and teaches in Munich, was a programmatic highlight. Moreover, her conducting was captivating with unpretentious objectivity and sobriety – by no means undercooled or distanced, but striving for ‘music-making at eye level’, as she had learned as Abbado’s assistant.”

neue musikzeitung, September 2016

„As a result, there are highly acclaimed CD productions, such as the soundtrack to the film ‘Stille Sehnsucht – Warchild’ (2005 nominated for the German Film Award in the category music) recorded by ensemble oktopus.“

neue musikzeitung, December 2015

„At the same time, Gourzi’s compositional miniatures have a unique charm. The pieces (…) are perfectly crafted both in terms of compositional technique and form, and their handling of the string quartet instrumentation in particular reveals novel approaches and creative work on detail.“

Das Orchester, March 2015

„This wonderful CD brings together musical snapshots that seem to come from the innermost.“

BR Klassik, 23 January 2015

„Coolly spacious sound and a booklet essay round out this absorbing introduction to an eminently worthwhile composer.[Konstantia Gourzi: Music for Piano and String Quartet]“

gramophone.co.uk, January 2015

„You rather hope you’ll bump into and make the acquaintance of the Greek composer Konstantia Gourzi. And that she’ll be sufficiently impressed by the force of your personality that she’ll capture it in music.“

theartsdesk.com, 3 January 2015

„That’s a constant here: Gourzi’s music [Konstantia Gourzi: Music for Piano and String Quartet] is always very characteristic, rhetorical, multi-faceted, and in the end therefore catchy and memorable. Gourzi wants to appeal, and she achieves it without compromise, at a high level.“

Pizzicato Magazin, 29 November 2014

„Mönkemeyer is at home with (…) Gourzi’s sophisticated simplicity. [Bach und Mehr]“

The Strad, May 2013

„Fortunately, Mönkemeyer also looks ahead: a second CD [Bach und Mehr] contains new works by Sally Beamish, Marco Hartenstein, and Konstantia Gourzi, all inspired by him and played with equal competence. They take a look at Bach from different angles.“

neue musikzeitung, March 2013

„The ‘ensemble oktopus’ under Konstantia Gourzi more than lives up to the demands of this work [Hans-Werner Henze: Guitar Music 2], lets the sound worlds affect us as listeners.“

Gitarre und Laute, March 2011

„Gourzi’s new chamber music pieces [Conjunctions – Synápsies] reveal great passion for the diversity of musical instrumentation and forms, for changes of attitude and mood. Poetic miniatures (…) impressively show how the composer Gourzi can ignite atmospheric magic even in dense musical structures.“

Süddeutsche Zeitung, 3 November 2010

„The finely balanced interplay of the musicians of the open ensemble opus21musikplus was also wonderfully present and transparent. The young conductor and composer Konstantia Gourzi, who also comes from Greece, (…) succeeded in some parts in almost electrifying interpretations. Her program conception was refreshingly unconventional.“

BR Klassik, 3 September 2007

„Floating images from the camera crane, a color dramaturgy that lays the glistening varnish of hyperreal photographs over winter-grey streets and interiors (…). And finally a soundtrack that combines electronic crossover music with spherical female choirs (Konstantia Gourzi, Xaver Naudascher) – the stylistic means of ‘Warchild’ want great cinema.“

taz, 13 November 2006